The Great Bandit in Kangxi Year

Chapter 242 Reasons to avoid war

After the gunpowder smoke spread, Liu Guoxuan ordered more than ten frigates to go forward to check, and only then learned that most of the twenty frigates of the opponent were smashed to pieces, and two of the ten cruise ships were also sunk, and the rest were also destroyed. It became a sieve warship, each with more than ten bullets.

The enemy ship was in a mess, sawdust mixed with corpses and blood, and there was no living person, obviously fleeing.

As for the shore of Singapore Harbor, sparks were still burning, emitting a pungent smell.

An hour later, the Marine Corps landed without damage, but there was still a small fort in Singapore, and there were people on it, but they did not surrender.

Liu Guoxuan didn't pay much attention to this small fortress, but ordered two thousand marines to surround the fortress so that they could not disturb the rest of the marines landing.

At this time, a total of two marine divisions followed, and the rest needed the next trip to come.

Liu Guoxuan handed over the matter of landing to Gan Zhi, and boarded the warship again. After counting the losses, he was taken aback. Two of the [-] seal-class cruisers under his command sank, and [-] more were temporarily destroyed. Unable to fight and needed repairs, other battleships also lost more or less, and their strength immediately dropped by one-third.

He sighed in his heart, the large-caliber fortress artillery really wasn't that easy to resist, but fortunately, the next task was to block the Strait of Malacca and protect the Singapore harbor.

In fact, he was wrong. The Strait of Malacca is not so easy to block. It won't be long before the empire will face a new opponent.

In the afternoon of the same day, the fortress of Singapore surrendered under the bombardment of more than 200 infantry artillery, and captured more than a thousand Dutch and thousands of natives.

Gan Zhi knew that there were far more than so many Dutch people, but he was not in a hurry. While recruiting local aborigines to expand the port and build a military base, he also ordered a marine division to divide into three groups to occupy the manors and wealth controlled by the Dutch side.

As for the Dutch, they were all imprisoned in concentration camps. If the Netherlands did not pay the ransom after the war, they would become free labor for the empire in Southeast Asia.

And in order to ensure that the empire can defend Singapore, at this time the empire specially transported 300 150mm infantry guns, 200 200mm fort guns and 250 [-]mm fort guns, plus a marine division, Singapore is almost impenetrable.

There are also ten rocket vehicles, capable of launching 400 rockets at a time, to deal with landing enemy troops.

And when the permanent fortress is built, Singapore will be stronger. In fact, the island of Singapore at this time is shaped like a lion, and people call it the "Lion City".The south of Singapore borders the Strait of Malacca, which is the throat between the South China Sea, the Java Sea and the Strait of Malacca.So this island is very important. As long as the island is under control, only a limited number of warships are needed to block the Strait of Malacca.

However, there are dozens of islands and reefs around, which are also powerful barriers to block the Strait of Malacca.

In just three days, the Marine Division occupied the entire Singapore Island. Thanks to the heavy rainfall in this area, the Dutch side had almost no means of attack when it rained. The Marine Division of the Empire is actually a replica of the Sharpshooter. They have the ability to fight Vests, and thousands of soldiers with cold weapons, with the help of bayonets and sword shields, they still have extraordinary combat power.

Especially after it rains, the combat vests on them are more defensive.

At a very small price, they captured more than [-] Dutchmen, seized gold and silver treasures worth more than [-] million yuan, and a lot of materials, one third of which will become the war dividends of the navy officers and soldiers. One of the elements of the desperate battle of marines.

So now the navy is the most popular in the empire, and everyone is scrambling to enter. Unfortunately, the requirements are too strict, and most of the applicants are disappointed.

Next, Ganzhi occupied the surrounding islands and directly attacked the Malay Peninsula with the help of the Seal-class cruiser. According to the emperor's request, the empire must occupy this place permanently, and the ancient city of Malacca must be occupied, but this time Take the Marine Corps as the main force.

At this time, part of the Malay Peninsula belonged to Malaysia, and part belonged to Siam. Emperor Dahua said: If the aborigines in the Malay Peninsula and Singapore are dishonest, they can implement a first-level extermination plan, but other places do not have this requirement, they just require It must become a colony of the empire, and the local natives must pay a poll tax.

In fact, there are a large number of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. They were more or less suppressed and exploited in the past. At this time, the imperial soldiers came. Most of them mainly helped the imperial warriors and laid a solid foundation for the imperial colonization of Southeast Asia.

Just as the Marine Division was aggressively attacking the Malay Peninsula, Chen Dajiang's main black dragon fleet also arrived in the Java Sea, causing great panic among the Dutch.

There was already a panic in the Governor's Mansion of Batavia.

At this time, Joseph was like a defeated rooster, and said dejectedly: "Last time I fired countless shells at them, but the opponent's [-] cruisers were unscathed. Could it be that the opponent's warships are made of steel?"

The old governor of Batavia just closed his eyes, as if he had fallen asleep, noncommittal.

Nicholas's expression was not good at this time. After all, the opponent was about to attack at this time. It had been many years since warships from other countries bombarded Batavia Harbor. If one's own warships were blocked in the harbor, the Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia There is a possibility of collapse, and the Dutch East India Company will also be dissolved by then.

"That's enough, Mr. Commander, don't be alarmist." He snorted, and said as calmly as possible: "Gentlemen, I didn't expect the navy of the Dahua Empire to be so powerful. No one thought of it, but they are not Invincible, it is impossible to be invincible, at this time, I will either fight or defend until the opponent can't hold on, there is no other way."

"The Black Dragon Fleet is simply the devil's emissary. Please tell me, Mr. Speaker, how should we fight?" Joseph was no longer as aggressive as before, and his words were somewhat rude.

"Hmph." Nicholas snorted heavily, but he didn't curse at all. After all, he didn't understand naval warfare, and changing the battle would be very detrimental to this battle. He sighed and said, "The motherland is in a bloody battle, why? For the benefit of the Dutch, for the Dutch's maritime supremacy, now that the Black Dragon Fleet is here, can the great Dutch just admit defeat like this?"

Everyone's eyes immediately focused on Nicholas, including the old governor, and Nicholas said passionately: "Brave fighters, we still have warships, we have tens of thousands of marines, and there are The Batavia Fortress that will never be breached, this battle must be won, let’s go, this time, let the opponent know the strength of the Dutch navy by setting fire to the ship.”

"Yes, sir." Everyone took a deep breath and their eyes became firm.

Joseph also raised his spirits, but he didn't have such great confidence. There were only 11 battleships that could be mobilized in this battle, and only [-] battleships that could fight. The rest were cruisers, and some of them The battleship was still wounded, and it might fall apart after a few shells.

However, there are still more than 80 frigate-class battleships, but the protection capabilities of these warships are too poor to compete with the opponent's main battleship. Nicholas is playing with fire.

Joseph's mind gradually cleared up. When the captains of the various squadrons went down to prepare, he stayed and said earnestly: "Mr. Speaker, it's useless. Is the blood of more than ten thousand marines fake? But I have method, maybe there are still some uses."

Nicholas was very surprised, and said cautiously: "Tell me."

"Contact Britain, France and other countries, the United Provinces will give up part of the interests of Southeast Asia, and share the interests, and give them the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and the Dutch strongholds in Annan and Champa, but the condition is that they must defeat the Black Dragon Fleet , while Holland retains the remaining colonies."

Nicholas interrupted on the spot: "No, there must be no loss in the Strait of Malacca. This is a matter of principle."

"Mr. Speaker!" Joseph said emotionally out of control: "You can't hesitate anymore, the Netherlands can't survive, there are so many countries, the Netherlands can't compete, I believe the situation in the motherland at this time will not be too good, not to mention Britain, France, etc. The combined fleet of the United States may not be the opponent of the Black Dragon Fleet. I estimated that even the Far East Fleet may not be the opponent of the opponent in its heyday. Persistence in fighting is the way out for the United Provinces. The joint fleet of the United States will definitely cause revenge from Britain, France and other countries. This is called killing with a borrowed knife. In this way, everything will survive, but the condition is that we must defend Batavia."

Nicholas was stunned for a moment, such a big matter was beyond his control, and he was speechless for a long time.

At this moment, the old governor said: "Well said, this is the best strategy. It not only relieved the crisis of the United Provinces, but also attacked the Black Dragon Fleet. With the powerful Dutch privateer fleet, even if it is not a monopoly of trade, It is still better to have the right to speak in the sea, than to be robbed of everything by the Dahua Empire."

"Take everything!"

Thinking of this, Nicholas became hideous, and said coldly: "Okay, contact Britain, France and other countries immediately."

"No, we still have to take all the battleships away, avoid this battle, avoid the main battleships of the opponent, and preserve the strength of the Far East Fleet. This is the key. Therefore, Batavia's defense is very important. Under the premise, defend for more than one year." Joseph shook his head and said sincerely.

Nicholas stared at Joseph viciously, and said to himself, "Could it be that Joseph is timid to fight, so he wants to contact Britain, France and other countries?"

Although he was shrewd, he couldn't help thinking wildly when it involved countless wealth and colonies.

"Children, take the fleet and leave. Batavia will be handed over to the governor. The city is alive, but the city is dead." The old governor said resolutely.

"This?" Nicholas hesitated for a moment, then sighed instantly: "Okay, I will take the mercenaries of the East India Company to defend other places, and the rest of the fleet will be handed over to Mr. Commander. Good luck to you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I would like to ask Mr. Speaker to give an order. Other small ports can give up resistance when there is no hope of victory. The population of the United Province is too small, and the Emperor Dahua is a greedy person. As long as the ransom is paid, after the war They will let them go, and this commander will try to harass the other party's transport fleet, this battle will not be easy for them." Joseph took a deep breath and sighed.

"This!" Nicholas left angrily.

As a result, when Chen Dajiang arrived at the port of Batavia, there was not a single Dutch warship to go to battle, and there were no warships in the military port. discarded.

Chen Dajiang was taken aback, where did the opponent's main battleship go?

Could it be that they ran to the other side of the Java Sea and returned to the South China Sea?
Chen Dajiang suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. Although the empire was prepared, the main fleet of the Dutch side has not disappeared, and there are still many battleships. After this battle, he discovered how powerful the battleships are.

In this battle, he captured a first-class battleship. The ship was hit by 39 rounds of 24 catties shells.

In other words, if the other party attacks the coast of the empire, the empire must suffer heavy losses.

If the South China Sea is not safe, the fleet of troop carriers and supplies will be in danger, which will then affect the entire battle situation.

Chen Dajiang no longer cared about bombarding Batavia, and ordered the Clippers to report the situation here to the emperor, and at the same time ordered thirty seal-class cruisers to support Liu Guoxuan.

He himself took 53 Sea Lion-class cruisers to sink dozens of broken warships in the Batavia Shipyard, and then returned immediately, preparing to return to the South China Sea to escort his own ships and wait for an opportunity to capture the opponent's main fleet.

Chen Dajiang had worries about the future, and the progress of the war suddenly slowed down.

Fortunately, after more than ten days, no Dutch fleet was found, and no one's own ships were looted, but Chen Dajiang was even more nervous. The opponent would definitely choose the best time to attack and inflict heavy damage on his side. Where are they hiding? Woolen cloth?
He secretly said in his heart: "We must catch the other party, and hope that the intelligence department can gain something."

But these days, Liu Guoxuan has achieved a lot of battles. He brought back gold and silver worth hundreds of millions of silver dollars, as well as countless special products, defeated the Malaysian army, and occupied the ancient city of Malacca.

It seems that the situation is not too bad.

(End of this chapter)